For anyone out there reading, writing and making movies with your eyes set on Hollywood, Evan Daugherty‘s story of how he wrote and got Snow White and the Huntsman made is an inspiration. Years before studio began salivating over big action fairy tale films, Daugherty had the idea to take the Snow White tale and make it more action-packed via a small supporting character, The Huntsman. His script, originally written in a college dorm room, sat on a hard drive for years until Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland made a billion dollars and SWATH quickly became one of the hottest scripts in town.

Also, for anyone who struggles with collaboration, criticism and change, Daugherty’s story is even more enlightening. Since its first draft, Snow White and the Huntsman has gone though some radical changes. Multiple structures, tones, different characters living, dying, etc. In our interview with the screenwriter, he took us through the entire time line and detailed who changed what, when, how casting forced script changes and much more.

Though reviews of Snow White and the Huntsman were decidedly mixed, its history is fascinating. Read all about it in our interview with screenwriter Evan Daugherty below. Read More »

Zac Efron and Seth Rogen are set to team up for an untitled R-rated comedy based on a pitch by Judd Apatow associates Andrew Cohen and Brendan O’Brien. The pairing itself seems unlikely enough, but perhaps even more surprising is which role each actor will play — in this film, it’ll be funnyman Rogen who plays the straight man, while the clean-cut Efron tackles the part of a hard-partying frat boy.

The story revolves around Rogen’s character, a normal guy with the bad fortune to live next door to Efron’s loud, obnoxious frat house. Rogen is also set to produce the film along with his partner Evan Goldberg. [Deadline]

John McTiernan had a killer action movie run in the ’80s with Predator, Die Hard and The Hunt For Red October, and the ’90s weren’t so bad for him either, thanks to Last Action Hero and Die Hard: With a Vengeance. But the 2000s weren’t so hot, first because of Rollerball, and then because he was implicated in the 2006 Anthony Pellicano wiretapping and racketeering scandal. McTiernan ultimately perjured himself while testifying about his involvement in the Hollywood private investigator’s activities, which led to a one-year prison sentence.

John McTiernan’s conviction is waiting to go through the appeal process right now. In the meantime he has been trying to pull together a film called Shrapnel, based on a script by Evan Daugherty (Snow White and the Huntsman) and provisionally starringJohn Travolta and Nicolas Cage. So that Face/Off reunion is finally going to happen? That’s what it was looking like for a while. All those details are things we’ve known for some time, but now it looks like financing for the movie is finally falling into place. Unfortunately, it might happen without Nic Cage. Read More »

Two of the most famous, craziest and controversial actors working in Hollywood today could possibly team up for one or two upcoming films. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, who previously co-starred in the 1997 John Woo blockbuster Face/Off, are rumored to be circling two upcoming projects. The first is Shrapnel, written by Evan Dougherty and directed by John McTiernan. The second is Sea Trial, based on the novel by Frank De Felitta. Shrapnel would go first, possibly this summer, as Sea Trial has yet to find funding, but Vulture reports Travolta and Cage are both interested in both films. Read more about them after the break. Read More »

The past decade has not been kind to John McTiernan. After a career making a name for himself with movies like Predator, Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October, his only two efforts of the last ten years—Rollerball and Basic—have been criticallyreviled, and they didn’t perform so hot at the boxoffice, either. Meanwhile, his personal life has been equally troubled, with the threat of jail time continuing to loom in the not-so-distant future. It’s even caused his movie Run, which was set to star Thomas Jane, to be put on hold.

Don’t count McTiernan out yet, though. He’s just signed on to direct the indie action-thriller Shrapnel, from a script by Evan Daugherty that made the 2008 Black List. More on the film after the break. Read More »